Putin and spy Anna enjoy a singalong

By Will Stewart In Moscow

Patriotic songs: Anna Chapman is being treated as a hero in Russia


Vladimir Putin has revealed he sang patriotic Soviet songs with glamorous spy Anna Chapman and the other nine agents on their return to Moscow.

The Russian prime minister, a former KGB colonel who spied in East Germany in the Soviet era, made clear the returnees are being treated as heroes despite their cover being blown and claims they gained no U.S. secrets.

None have appeared in public since their return from America earlier this month after a Cold War- style spy exchange for four Russians who had spied for the CIA and MI6.

Mr Putin admitted that 28-year-old Chapman, who was married to a British man and had lived in London, was present at the extraordinary patriotic singalong.

'I met them. We talked about life. We sang. It was not karaoke but live music,' he revealed, adding that they sang From Where the Motherland Begins.

It was used in a 1968 television series about Soviet spies in Nazi Germany and has become an unofficial anthem of Russian intelligence officers.

Mr Putin blamed their cover being blown on a betrayal by a Russian agent, suggesting the culprit was Sergei Tretyakov, who defected to the U.S. in 2000 and died of a heart attack in June.

'It was a result of treachery, and traitors always end up badly either from abuse of alcohol or drugs, somewhere in the gutter,' Mr Putin added.

'One has recently ended up almost like this. And I don't understand what it was all about.'

He praised Chapman, who has the looks of a Bond girl, and her fellow agents, insisting that they would enjoy a good life in Russia.


Easy rider: Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (right) prefers a Harley Davidson Trike as a mode of transport for a recent meeting


Mr Putin further showed off his hard man credentials at the weekend when he joined bikers in Sevastopol, Ukraine, sitting astride a Harley Davidson.

The prime minister, whose approval ratings slumped last month to the lowest level of his two-year premiership, told enthusiasts, 'Long live Russia, long live Ukraine, and long live bike'.

Meanwhile, a British artist, Marcus Read, 37, revealed he had a passionate six-week affair with Chapman before she left him for her husband, Alex.


Kremlin's hard man: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rides a Harley Davidson Lehman Trike as he arrives for a meeting with bikers in Ukraine


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source: dailymail